The efficient absorption and dissipation of particle or laser beam energy deposited during particle accelerator, or laser beam energy absorption in targets, converters, beam absorbers, and beam dumps is necessary in many commercial and research accelerator and laser installations. Engineering solutions aimed at solving this problem and available on the market today generally suggest setups in which the absorption of beam energy occurs in stationary elements immersed in the flow of liquid or gaseous coolants. In many instances, such stationary design imposes limitations on the maximum beam power ratings of the devices. Energy concentrations in the particle and laser beams can be very high, such that the local power deposited in the absorber cannot be dissipated fast enough over the correspondingly large cooling area needed to transfer the energy to the coolant flow at an adequate rate.
One method proposed for dealing with this problem is the use of beam rastering, that is, rapid changing of the beam position at the entrance point to the absorber, thereby effectively increasing the cooling area. Such a method is widely used in particle accelerators, but it is increasingly difficult and expensive as higher energies and higher beam power are attained.
Another method of high energy beam absorption is to make the flowing coolant the major energy absorber, with the stationary absorber structures fabricated from a thin, low absorbing material, such as transparent glass for laser beams, or a low-Z material for particle beams. For a very high beam power this method still has the problem of dissipating the heat produced in the stationary elements of the absorber. For high energy particle accelerator beams such a method brings the additional problem of dealing with radioactive coolant. When a significant portion of the beam energy is absorbed by the coolant, a correspondingly significant portion of the activated material is concentrated in the coolant volume. Making such an arrangement safe and reliable results in significant cost increases.
Thus, there remains a need for an efficient and cost effective apparatus and method for absorbing and/or disposing of particle accelerator, or laser beam energy produced in targets, converters, beam absorbers, and beam dumps.